THE depth of its combined studbook’s results places Germany as the leading nation in Hippomundo’s rankings and, while many German powerhouse verbands, or breeding associations, are household names, one studbook has carved quite a niche for itself.

It’s the Trakehner Verband, the small but mighty studbook. Trakehner horses have won Olympic medals in all three disciplines and the studbook currently boasts the current leading dressage horse and top-ranked eventing sire in the world: TSF Dalera BB and Grafenstolz.